The Department, therefore, holds that the appeal is well taken, and that the merchandise is not liable to the said discriminating duty. You will please reliquidate the entry accordingly. Very respectfully, COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS, New York. JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary. (3-426.) Medical-Relief Certificates issued on account of Sick and Disabled Seamen. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Office of the Supervising Surgeon-General, Washington, November 26, 1877. It is desirable, in the interest of the contributors to the marine-hospital fund, to ascertain, as far as practicable, to what extent the ability of the Service to support itself without the aid of the Government is affected by the demands upon it for the relief of persons physically unfit to follow the avocation of seamen. In issuing a medical-relief certificate on blank Form 6, you are therefore hereby instructed, in the event the applicant be found, in your opinion, physically unfit for service as a seaman, to state his unseaworthiness, as ascertained by your examination into his condition, by adding to your certificate the words "never fit for service," or "unfit for further service," as the case may be, qualifying the statement, if requisite, by prefixing the word "probably." No corresponding notes will be required to be made in the certificates issued for applicants who are not found to be physically disqualified as seamen. The above instructions will take effect on the first proximo. Respectfully, JNO. M. WOODWORTH, MEDICAL OFFICERS OF THE MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE, and Physicians and Surgeons Examining Applicants for Relief from that Service. (3427.) Importations through the Mail. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, November 26, 1877. The following regulations of the Post Office Department, amending the regulation embodied in the printed Decisions of this Department for September, 1875, (Synopsis 2375,) are now published for the information and guidance of customs officers. POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., November 19, 1877. Section 52, chapter 3, of the Regulations of the Post Office Department, modified and amended by order of the Postmaster General of January 3, 1874, is hereby further modified and amended so as to read as follows: When letters, sealed packages, or packages the wrappers of which cannot be removed without destroying them, are received in the United States from a foreign country, and the postmaster of the exchange office at which they are received has reason to believe they contain articles liable to customs duties, he shall immediately notify the customs officer of the district in which his office is located, or the customs officer designated by the Secretary of the Treasury for the purpose of examining the mails arriving from foreign countries, of the receipt of such letters or packages, and their several addresses; and if any letter or package of this character be addressed to a person residing within the delivery of his office, the postmaster shall also, at the time of its arrival, notify the addressee thereof that such letter or package has been received, and is believed to contain articles liable to customs duties, and that the same will be returned to the country of origin unless the addressee shall appear at the post office, at a time in said notice to be designated, not exceeding twenty days from the date of said notice, and receive and open said letter or package in the presence of an officer of the customs. Letters and sealed packages, or packages the wrappers of which cannot be removed without destroying them, which are suspected to contain articles liable to customs duties, and which are addressed to persons residing outside of the delivery of the United States exc ange office, where they were first received from abroad, shall be forwarded, without longer detention than twenty-four hours, to their respective destinations, marked "suspected liable to customs duties," and, upon their receipt at the offices of destination, the postmasters thereof shall notify the nearest customs officer and the parties addressed, in the manner and to the same effect as hereinbefore provided for in the case of similar letters or packages addressed for delivery at the United States exchange office where they were first received. Unsealed packages, found on examination to contain articles liable to customs duties, shall be treated as undeliverable correspondence, and be returned at once by the United States receiving exchange office to the exchange office of the country of origin which forwarded it to the United States, marked "Subject to customs duties." Provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall authorize or allow customs officers to seize or take possession of any letter or sealed package whilst the same is in the custody of a postmaster, nor until after its delivery to the addressee; and provided further, that no letter or sealed package shall be detained at the office of delivery a longer period than may be necessary for the appearance of a customs officer and the addressee, in pursuance of the notices herein before provided to be given. Postmasters are expected to extend to customs officers all proper facilities, and to permit such officers as may be specially designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, to have access at all times to their respective offices, for the purpose of examining mail-matter received from foreign countries, in order to protect the customs revenue from frauds practised through the mails. D. M. KEY, Postmaster General. TO COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., January 3, 1878, The following Decisions of the Department for the month of December, 1877, upon the construction to be given to Acts of Congress, relating to the Tariff, Navigation, and other subjects, are published herewith for the information and guidance of Officers of the Customs. JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary. (3428.) Indian Auxiliary classified as Zinc-Dust. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 3, 1877. GENTLEMEN: Your letter of August 10 last was duly received, in which you state that an article known as "indigo auxiliary," being a preparation of zinc, in the form of a fine powder, has been imported at New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, at the rate of 15 per cent. ad valorem, and that the proper rate of duty thereon is 35 per cent. ad valorem. In reply, you are informed that upon investigation it appears that duty has been assessed on the article in question at the ports mentioned, at the rate of 20 per cent. ad valorem, under a decision of this Department, dated September 12, 1874, it being classified as "zincdust." Messrs. V. G. BLOEDE & Co., Parkersburg, W. Va. 32 |